


Curled like Roots

by TheForestAndTheBadger



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Female Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, I Wrote This While Crying, Platonic Cuddling, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 08:43:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14077161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheForestAndTheBadger/pseuds/TheForestAndTheBadger
Summary: A soft knock at the door made her jump, and her heartbeat made her entire body shake. She dragged the back of her hand across her face, knowing that her eyes and nose were red and swollen from weeping.“Who’s there?” She called, half heartedly.“Jemma? It’s me.”A post 5x14 fic.





	Curled like Roots

**Author's Note:**

> This fic does mention events from 5x14, so if you think reading it is going to be upsetting, please don't read it!! This is covering the night after 5x14, and Jemma's intense reaction and grief.  
>  I wrote this to deal with the emotions the episode brought up in me, but I know this ep was polarizing, so use your discretion.

Jemma Simmons-Fitz sat on the edge of her bed, heartsick and mind reeling. She had tried to sleep, but the bed felt too big, too lonely, and her thoughts wouldn’t stop racing, no matter what relaxation techniques she tried. Every time her mind went to Fitz, locked in his solitary cell, it felt as if all the air was being crushed out of her chest, and the pain was too much to bear. She felt all at once angry, blindsided, confused, and most of all, guilty.

_If only I had made him sleep, if only I had paid better attention; saw the warning signs. I’m the one who knows him best, how did I not see this?_

Jemma covered her mouth with a hand, as she sobbed brokenly. The vision of him wouldn’t disappear from her mind; his glassy eyes, the rubber gloves and the scalpel dripping blood.

_Daisy’s blood_.

How would they survive this? How could things ever go back to okay? The three of them had been so close once, and now there was such pain and terror linking them together.

Jemma futilely heaved into a garbage can, but all the contents of her stomach had already been expelled. As the acrid taste of vomit lingered in her mouth, a thought tried to enter her mind, a thought she had actively been ignoring.

_What if its not shock and grief making you sick, Jemma?_

After Deke's revelation of his familial ties to her and Fitz, Jemma had staunchly been ignoring the possibility that she might be pregnant. It was too much; too much had happened in the space of one day and a pregnancy was supposed to be its own revelation, not some sardonic afterthought to a day of trauma.

Jemma couldn’t sit still any longer, her body was buzzing. She wanted to run, she wanted to wake up from this nightmare. She wanted a time machine to take her back the span of day, when she and Fitz were happy newlyweds. She shook with sobs as she twisted her wedding band around her finger, unable to stop seeing Fitz’s ring, under his rubber gloves. The way he touched it when she last spoke to him behind glass.

A soft knock at the door made her jump, and her heartbeat made her entire body shake. She dragged the back of her hand across her face, knowing that her eyes and nose were red and swollen from weeping.

“Who’s there?” She called, half heartedly.

“Jemma? It’s me.” She heard Daisy’s voice and lurched at the door, unlocking the several bolts that she had hoped would have made her feel safer.

When she swung the door open, Daisy was standing there, eyes sunken and a fresh bandage adhered to her neck.

“I know you might not want to see me right now, but I couldn’t sleep, and I thought you might be up too, so…”

“Wh-why wouldn’t I want to see you?” Jemma tried to speak, but her voice shuddered from residual sobs. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Daisy’s eyes filled with tears and she slipped over the threshold, Jemma making sure the door was locked securely behind them.

“Are you in a lot of pain?” Jemma asked, sick to her stomach again at the way she had been helpless to stop Daisy’s cries of pain, in that horrible, plastic-lined room.

Daisy shook her head, sinking onto the edge of the bed. “I’m on a lot of painkillers right now,” she confessed, a slight detachment in her voice affirming her statement. “Physically, I’ll be ok. But emotionally…mentally…”

“I’m so sorry,” Jemma sobbed. “Daisy I am so sorry. You must hate him, you must be so angry, I’m sorry.”

“Its not your fault, Jemma.” Daisy said gently. “You weren’t the one who did this to me-“

“Please, I don’t want to talk about…what he did to you, I can’t bear it right now.” Jemma crawled onto the mattress beside Daisy, lying against the pillows boneless and weak. “My heart…is breaking.”

Daisy lay down beside Jemma, wincing slightly as the movement affected her recent wound. “I know, Jem’. That’s why I didn’t want you to have to be alone, tonight. I’ll sleep here with you, if you need me.”

Jemma nodded, and as she let another wave of sobs ride over her, Daisy pulled the covers over both of their shoulders.

“I’m sorry I’m so-” Jemma gestured vaguely at herself; the tear stained shirt, the swollen face. “I’m crying like a child, and you’re the one that he...he…” Her face crumpled, and Daisy pulled her close, ‘shhh’-ing softly to try and ease her distress.

“God, Jemma, you have every right to be this upset. It’s not a competition.” Daisy rubbed a hand soothingly up and down Jemma’s back. “We could go to the infirmary and get you some pills, huh? To just…let you sleep, make it bearable.” She offered.

Jemma went still. “I couldn’t risk it,” She murmured, before looking Daisy in the eye. “I can’t say for sure, but I think I might be pregnant.”

Daisy let out a long exhale. “Oh, Jemma.” She had often imagined that Jemma and Fitz might have children one day, but never under such circumstances. “Ok, we’ll stay here.”

The two friends lapsed into silence, punctuated only by the occasional sniffle or sigh.

Somehow they fell asleep, curled up like roots, and for the first time all day, they were at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I feel I should be clear, I do not hate Fitz, and I do believe that he and Jemma will get through this. This fic was to express my own feelings brought up by the episode, and to explore how Jemma and Daisy might react.


End file.
